Virtual World is the sixth young adult novel by the English writer Chris Westwood

Chris Westwood (author)

Christopher Westwood also known as Chris Westwood is an English author and journalist. Born as the son of a coal miner and school teacher, he is best known as the author of young adult fiction and children's books...

. It was published in the UK (1996) and in the US (1997) by Viking Penguin. It was long-listed for the Carnegie Award in 1997.

Synopsis

Silicon Sphere is the new game with everything: dazzling super-real graphics, atmospheric sounds... but it also has a secret. Those who play it, like games freak Jack North, become so absorbed that it is as if they are hidden inside the game. Stranger still, elements from Silicon Sphere are starting to reproduce themselves in the real world. Jack thinks he is imagining it until other players start to disappear. By the time he realizes that this is no game, it is too late to make his way back.

Reviews

Times Educational Supplement

Times Educational Supplement

The Times Educational Supplement is a weekly UK publication aimed primarily at school teachers in the UK. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in The Times newspaper. Such was its popularity that in 1914, the supplement became a separate publication selling for 1 penny.The TES...

: A powerful cyberspace novel that chillingly explores the manner in which players of computer games can become so absorbed by their digital adventures that it seems as if they are actually living in and interacting with the VDU landscape. This is a gripping and important book, written in the tradition of Aldous Huxley

Aldous Huxley

Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...

's Brave New World

Brave New World

Brave New World is Aldous Huxley's fifth novel, written in 1931 and published in 1932. Set in London of AD 2540 , the novel anticipates developments in reproductive technology and sleep-learning that combine to change society. The future society is an embodiment of the ideals that form the basis of...

.